MAILBAG (PART 1): Defense, Justise Winslow, G League Rules, Chauncey Billups, Shaedon Sharpe, ROOT Sports

Answering reader questions in the first part of a new mailbag.

With the first week of Trail Blazers training camp and four preseason games in the books, there are a lot of new topics to break down. That’s true every year, but especially now, with so many new players. I knew I’d get a lot of questions last week when I put out a call to paid subscribers for the newest mailbag, and sure enough, I got enough that this is going to be another two-parter.

Part one today covers a variety of topics that get more in the weeds, including the G League, the ROOT Sports/Comcast situation, how to evaluate Chauncey Billups in a rebuilding year, and what Justise Winslow is up to now.

Part two, which will not be paywalled, will be out later this week or early next week and deal with a lot of the questions that are more big-picture about the state of the franchise—or, some variation of “How to enjoy a rebuild when you know the losses are coming.”

Let’s get into it.

How will the Blazers defense be different/any better this season? Will Ayton at center lead to less drop coverage? Will a full season of Matisse make an impact? Or is a team starting Ant and another small guard in the backcourt doomed to be bad defensively?

- Anne M.

Backcourt defense is never going to stop being an issue with the size disadvantage the Blazers will be facing every night. That was true with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, it was true with Lillard and Anfernee Simons and it will remain true with Simons and Scoot Henderson. Henderson has the physical tools and work ethic to one day become a decent defender (Matisse Thybulle spoke highly of his effort on that end during training camp), but that isn’t going to happen in year one, and there are only so many guys he’ll be able to guard at his size. So that’s always going to be there.

The rest of the roster outside of the guards should be much improved on the defensive end, though. With Ayton and Robert Williams III, they have real size in the frontcourt now. Thybulle is a terror on that end. Malcolm Brogdon has been a good defender in his career. Jerami Grant is a plus defender. They have real talent on that end of the floor now.

Not that it’s going to matter, because this team isn’t going to win very many games. But they’ve had a bottom-four defense each of the last four years and I don’t think that’s going to continue this year. Not that they’ll be elite on that end—they could just be a bottom-10 defense instead of bottom-five—but they have better talent than they have in some time. The reason they’re going to be bad for the next couple of years isn’t defense, it’s because they have so many young players and they’re handing the keys to the offense to a 19-year-old.

Hello Sean

You see now and then Blazers fans wondering what was the exact outcome for Justise Winslow and what are his plans. He was well liked at the very least off the court. He gave a video update a long while ago and then drifted off the team with little or no comment from anybody. Justise is a thoughtful guy and I've always enjoyed hearing from him.

My best,

Knútur.

I liked Winslow a lot on a personal level, too. But it's not a surprise he isn't on an NBA roster currently—his biggest issue has been staying healthy, and the ankle injury he suffered last December was a bad one. Initially, it was diagnosed as a left ankle sprain; months later, before the end of the season, he underwent a bone marrow injection followed by a procedure. It's never a great sign when an injury suffered in December requires two different procedures because the normal ankle sprain recovery doesn't take.

I saw Winslow a couple of times in late June and early July at the Blazers' practice facility working out at the same time as the team was holding predraft workouts and Summer League practices. I didn't get to talk to him at all, but it was good to see him walking. I heard recently that he's back down in Los Angeles, continuing to work out in hopes of catching on with an NBA team at some point during the season. That's all I have for you on that. Hopefully, he's able to get right physically and get back in the league.

Hi Sean,

1. What are the rules regarding call-ups and demotions between the G League team and the normal squad? Can any player be sent back and forth as many times as the team wants? Are there a minimum amount of days a player needs to remain on one roster, similar to the MLB? How do those rules differ for the two-way guys vs fully guaranteed guys vs G League contracts? With such a young squad it seems like there could be a lot of shuffling around this year, regardless of contract status.

2. It seems like Badji has probably been relegated to 5th in the pecking order at center (behind Ayton, RWIII, Brown, and Reath). Do you think he’ll see any time in the NBA before February? He seems too buried given the center depth which is disappointing for folks who wanted to see more of him this year.

Thanks

- Jon T.

This is something that's understandably come up more in the past few months, now that the Blazers finally have their own G League team and it will be a new thing for fans (and beat writers) to pay attention to.

The Blazers haven't made much use of the G League in the past several years, because it's a lot more of a hassle when you don't have your own team. You have to assign players to another NBA team's affiliate where their development isn't that staff's top priority, because they're not their players, and it's also farther away geographically. Last season, Greg Brown III had a couple of stints with the Ontario Clippers early in the season, and John Butler Jr. had one stint with the Stockton Kings towards the end of the year. It will be a lot easier for players to go back and forth between the Blazers and the Remix now that their G League team plays in town (at University of Portland's Chiles Center) and practices at the Blazers' practice facility in Tualatin.

Players like Brown, who was on a standard NBA contract and had less than three years of NBA experience, can be assigned and recalled to the G League an unlimited number of times with no minimum time spent with either team. It's not uncommon for teams whose G League teams play in the same city to hold a practice during the day, then assign a player to the G League later that day to play in a game, just to get that player in-game reps they wouldn't get in the NBA. I would expect Rayan Rupert, who is on a standard NBA contract but probably isn't ready to play heavy NBA minutes yet, to spend a lot of time with the Remix this season. He'll have the opportunity to play real minutes and develop there, and he can still be a part of the Blazers' parent club during practices and (likely) travel with the team on road trips.

(Occasionally, veteran players will be assigned to the G League when they're coming off major injuries to play in a game or two, as "rehab assignments." Klay Thompson spent a few days with the Santa Cruz Warriors before coming back from his Achilles injury in 2021, for example.)

Two-way contracts are a little different. These players earn salaries that are higher than the standard G League salary but lower than the NBA's minimum, don't count against the salary cap or 15-man roster, and can appear in a maximum of 50 NBA games in a season before they have to either be waived or have their contract converted to a standard NBA contract. Since the introduction of two-way contracts in the 2017 CBA, each team has been allowed two of those spots; the new CBA that went into effect on July 1 added a third. The Blazers have all three of their two-way spots filled currently with Butler, Ibou Badji (who you asked about, and I'll get to him) and Skylar Mays.

Out of the three, Mays is easily the most likely to actually hit the 50-game threshold with the Blazers. During last year's late-season tank, Mays proved to be a solid backup point guard capable of running an offense at the NBA level. Whether Malcolm Brogdon is traded before the deadline or not (could go either way at this point), his health history would suggest there will be minutes available at that position for Mays. It's definitely a possibility that in February or March, we're talking about his two-way contract being converted into a regular NBA contract, like Trendon Watford's was two years ago. In order to convert a two-way to a regular contract, a team has to either have an open roster spot or waive someone to open one up. This is one of a few reasons why I would expect the Blazers' final opening-day roster to only have 14 players.

Players on G League contracts (which is most guys not on two-ways) can't be freely called back and forth to their NBA teams in the same way. They have to be signed to an NBA contract in order to play for an NBA team. A lot of times, 10-day contracts come into play there. Players on G League contracts are also not limited to signing with their G League team's parent club. The Blazers could sign a player from a different G League team to an NBA contract if they wanted to, and another team could sign a Remix player. The G League is all about developing young players and helping them reach the NBA, so a team isn’t going to stand in the way of one of their G League players getting that opportunity outside of their organization.

As far as Badji is concerned, I would suggest watching or buying tickets to some Remix games if you want to see him in action. There's a chance he'll play for the Blazers towards the end of the season if they need bodies, but he's still viewed as a long-term project who isn't ready to play consistently at the NBA level yet. He'll get a lot of run in the G League, though. The ability for guys like him to get meaningful playing experience is one of the reasons having a team is beneficial.

Is Chauncey under any pressure this year? Not necessarily from a wins and losses perspective. Maybe another way of asking: is Chauncey being evaluated this year and if so, how?

- Chad H.

Hey Sean,

Given the new team, what does a successful season look like for Chauncey Billups? No one expects a lot of wins, so what should fans (and Jody Allen) be looking for?

Thanks,

Matthew B

My answer to this question is the same now as it was going into the summer. To evaluate Billups’ coaching job in a season where everyone knows their win-loss record won’t be good, you want to see buy-in and consistent player development from the start of the year to the end. The first part I don’t think will be an issue. The second part is something everyone will be watching closely. Unlike his first two seasons, when organizational upheaval and injuries got in the way of playoff expectations, the runway is his for at least another year. The roster has been almost fully turned over from the time he took the job two years ago (only Anfernee Simons remains), and every player here was brought in because they fit the style and player type he wants. It’s up to him now what he does with it.

Right now, the organization is still all-in on Billups. I haven’t heard even a whisper of his job status being in question, and the fact that everyone’s going into this season knowing it’s a rebuilding year should ensure that, at minimum, he survives the season. But at a certain point, three years into a five-year deal, the organization will have to be able to point to something tangible. This year will go a long way in determining what that “something” is or is not.

Dear Sean,

What is your top concern and your top reason for optimism with Shaedon Sharpe?

Kind regards,

Jacob G. in Alaska

Sharpe had a pretty good preseason (minus the first game against the New Zealand Breakers), and I would be optimistic that he'll make strides on the defensive end of the floor now that he's had a whole year to get used to the physicality and speed of the NBA. What remains to be seen is how he'll react to his new place in the Blazers' hierarchy on a night-to-night basis. He's likely not going to start, at least not opening night, and he's not going to be utilized as a go-to scorer on a night-to-night basis. Just as scoring options, even if you assume Scoot Henderson will be more of a playmaker than looking for his own offense, Sharpe is behind Anfernee Simons, Deandre Ayton, Jerami Grant and even Malcolm Brogdon (as long as he's here) on the pecking order. He'll have to get his in the second unit, for now. Will he be OK with that? We'll see. But that's what his reality is right now with the roster construction.

Does ROOT Sports Northwest have any current solvency concerns, as in is there any chance they go bankrupt before the contract expires, thus voiding the contract?

- Keely H.

This is a good question to ask about the ROOT/Comcast situation (which I wrote about in depth here), and a more relevant one to ask than "Why can't the Blazers just ditch ROOT and put their games back on YouTube TV?" without any context around their deal with ROOT, which runs through the 2024-25 season.

For background: The Suns have (deservedly) garnered a lot of positive press for their decision to put their games on over-the-air broadcast TV locally in Phoenix. They were able to do this despite having time left on their deal with Bally Sports Arizona, because Bally's parent company, Diamond Sports Group, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Diamond owns the entire family of Bally regional sports networks (RSNs), which covers around half the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball local markets. If the networks can't pay their broadcast rights fees to the teams they're supposed to be partnering with, those teams can invoke breach of contract and get out of the deals. In the case of Bally Sports Arizona, that network ceased operations entirely last week. This allowed the Suns to move forward with their plan to cut a new deal with one of the local broadcast networks and move their games there.

The easiest way for the Blazers to get out of their deal with ROOT before it actually ends would be if ROOT ran into similar financial problems and weren't able to pay the Blazers the annual rights fee for their games. As far as I've heard, they aren't in danger of that happening. Majority ownership of ROOT is controlled by the Seattle Mariners, who are doing very well financially and have no issues keeping the network up and running. As long as that remains the case and the agreed-upon amount of money continues to change hands between the network and the team for the right to broadcast their games, there isn't much the Blazers can do other than run out the clock on the final two seasons of the contract and explore next steps in the meantime.

I know that's not the answer most fans want to hear, but it is what it is. I know from conversations with people in the organization that the Blazers are not happy about fewer fans being able to watch their games with Comcast's recent changes to their channel tiers, and I would expect the team's next broadcast deal to be something in the over-the-air and/or direct-to-consumer streaming realms rather than another deal with an RSN. But unless something changes, the current situation is what it's going to be until then.

I've seen Damian Lilliard in post-trade interviews continue to express frustration with the Blazers for failing to trade him to Miami, his preferred destination. I'm curious as to why he and others don't also express frustration with the Heat for failing to make a more compelling trade offer for him. In looking for an instance of disrespect among all the teams involved in this situation, it seems to me that Miami's disrespect was the most egregious for believing that DL wasn't worth the superior trade package that the Bucks ultimately offered. Why hasn't that Miami disrespect been a bigger part of the discussion?

Paul O

I don't know if the Heat's approach to the Lillard trade talks was "disrespectful" in not thinking Lillard was worth giving up more. I think they thought that because Lillard and his agent, Aaron Goodwin, were doing everything in their power to limit the market and discourage other teams from trading for him, that they'd be able to get him without making a serious offer. Why would you pay more than you had to for something you wanted? Clearly, that strategy backfired, because Lillard is in Milwaukee and not Miami.

On a related note, if I were a Bucks fan, I might be a little annoyed at some of these interviews Lillard has been doing after the fact. Everyone knows he was pushing for Miami, but he ended up in as good a basketball situation as he could have asked for and has the best chance to win a title he's ever had, but he's still talking about how he wanted to be in Miami and Goodwin even put out a statement after the trade thanking the Heat for pursuing his client. It's weird to still be talking about it. But it’s not my concern anymore, or yours.